One of the participants in the RadOx Round Table, Daniel Stoddart, asked for a recommendation of ten philosophy books for educated non-philosophers to have read. That seemed like an entertaining challenge, and perhaps a real philosopher such as Drs. Weinberger and Garver, will weigh in to give sound advice, but I reckoned I might take a crack at it as an undergrad philosophy major (“it turns out there aren’t many job openings in my major field”).
Of course, a lot depends on how you define “educated,” or more precisely on which books you might already have read on the in the course of prior education (since it’s easy to become quite well-educated without, sigh, having read much philosophy. I’ll also stipulate that I was first captivated by the idea of studying philosophy when I read The Pleasures of Philosophy by Will Durant, a book from whose exposition I would now distance myself parkedly, but which does a spectacular job of communicating what’s so exciting about studying philosophy. (I’d definitely read it before Durant’s Story of Philosophy, although that’s a great introduction too). And those were the day’s before Sophie’s World, which thrilled Nate and Si when they first read it.
Once I sat down to choose ten, though, I ran into big problems. I’d want to save room for some of the pomo stuff that I so love, but that means relying on compendia and summaries with which I’m not really familiar. So obviously one has to have worked with Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle — but I tend to think the Sophists are shamefully short-changed by conventional-wisdom survey books. The patristic period mixes theology and philosophy too freely for most “pure” philosophical types, but thinkers such as Origen and Gregory of Nyssa shouldn’t just fall by the wayside.
Then there’s Augustine; should one recommend the Confessions or the City of God? Aquinas must be represented by an anthology, but which one hits the right balance?
And if one defines “philosophy” in a post-mediveal, only-enlightened-thinkers-need-apply way, what would you choose? Would reading all the way through Descartes’s Meditations actually be more useful than reading what someone else thought about him? Spinoza. . . Hume. . . Kant. . . Hegel. . . I’ll let Joel and David work on this project, if they will. Then I’ll comment on or add to their suggestions.
Posted by AKMA at January 24, 2004 04:09 PM | TrackBackI'm a former student of AKMA's, and I can't resist contributing to this post. I'm a professional philosopher, and I often get asked to recommend books to prospective undergraduates in my work on admissions. Using criteria of accessibility to the layperson, availability, cost, length, and sheer fun, I recommend the following books:
Plato, The Last Days of Socrates (Euthyphro/Apology/Crito/Phaedo)
Plato, The Republic
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Descartes, Meditations
Berkeley, Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonas
Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Mill, Utilitarianism
James, Pragmatism
Russell, Problems of Philosophy
Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic
Of course all lists like these are highly idiosyncratic, but I think that most non-philosophers would really enjoy reading any of these works and learn a great deal in the process.
Posted by: David at January 25, 2004 08:00 AMDavid! What a treat to hear from you!
Thanks for these suggestions. I was hoping to economize by finding a compendium that encompassed Plato and Aristotle — but these are essential. I’m unconvinced about Ayer when there’s so much important twentieth-century philosophy unrepresented (why not have the Philosophical Investigations, whether as an add-in earned by squeezing some Greeks together or in place of Russell or Ayer?).
Best wishes to you in York!
Posted by: AKMA at January 25, 2004 08:24 AMAs a sort of primer, I would heartily recommend Simon Blackburn's "Think" which is part of the Oxford University Press's Very Short Introductions series. It was a pleasure to read and after reading it I felt confident enough to actually attack some of the source material, which I had never read before.
Posted by: Lisa Williams at January 25, 2004 12:46 PMOn Christian Teaching serves nicely for Augustine, don't you think. You get him at the beginning and the end of his thought. He is practical and philosophical in a way that people of his age were best at. And it was a book that was needed ... then as now.
Posted by: Trevor at January 26, 2004 10:38 AMIn response to David, I agree with AKMA, that no list would be complete without Wittgenstein. If I were you, I would either chuck Berkeley (Descartes and Hume better capture the spirit of early modern philosophy) or choose between Russell and Ayer. I never though too highly of Ayer, but perhaps I was biased because most of my profs (with the exception of our resident epistemology specialist and our Russell scholar) were either classicists or ethicists.
Posted by: Richard at January 26, 2004 02:48 PMThank you to everyone for taking the time to recommend philosophy books for educated non-philosophers. I took a few philosophy courses in college and very much enjoyed the interaction and readings and intend on starting through the lists. I will probably pull Plato, The Republic off my shelf and give it another read. Thank you
Posted by: Jay Hassell at February 24, 2004 02:09 AM